Lot Essay
Lear arrived in Ajaccio early in April 1868 in preparation for a thorough study of the island: His Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica, with woodcut illustrations, was published in 1870. On 6 May 1868 he wrote in a letter to Emily Tennyson, 'This place is exceedingly beautiful - Ajaccio, I mean; the far mountains are glorious, but the Gulf has not much beauty - it is the tendancy of Corsican coastlines to run out into too long lines' (V. Noakes, ed., Edward Lear: Selected Letters, 1988, p.212). Both this view and a closer one of the town from slightly to the right were reproduced in his Journal, plates I and II.
Lear met Franklin Lushington (1823-1901) in Malta in the Spring of 1849 while Lear was staying with Franklin's older brother, Henry, who was Chief Secretary to the Government in Malta. Franklin and Lear travelled together in Southern Greece. Lear found Lushington 'The most merry and kind travelling companion' (letter to Ann, 21 April 1849) and they became life-long friends. Lear later becoming godfather to all Lushington's children. The dedication to Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica reads 'To Franklin Lushington, Esq., of the Inner Temple, formerly Member of the Supreme Council of Justice, in the Ionian Islands, and still earlier the Companion of my Travels in Greece. These illustrated Journals in Corsica are inscribed. By his Affectionate Friend, Edward Lear London 1869.'
Lear met Franklin Lushington (1823-1901) in Malta in the Spring of 1849 while Lear was staying with Franklin's older brother, Henry, who was Chief Secretary to the Government in Malta. Franklin and Lear travelled together in Southern Greece. Lear found Lushington 'The most merry and kind travelling companion' (letter to Ann, 21 April 1849) and they became life-long friends. Lear later becoming godfather to all Lushington's children. The dedication to Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica reads 'To Franklin Lushington, Esq., of the Inner Temple, formerly Member of the Supreme Council of Justice, in the Ionian Islands, and still earlier the Companion of my Travels in Greece. These illustrated Journals in Corsica are inscribed. By his Affectionate Friend, Edward Lear London 1869.'